Discounted Deals - Part One

The tension in the air around the Swap Clinic is palpable, the packed waiting room mostly simply staring down at their phones and laptops eagerly refreshing at a relatively bare webpage. It had been like this all morning, one by one people would shuffle in before dawn only to find a seat and begin the ritual of swiping down or tapping just a single button over and over.

The mood itself varied from person to person. While some sipped at coffees and enjoyed their early morning however they could while not losing their concentration others seemed to almost shake with nerves and stress.

From my subtle glances around the room I couldn't really pin down just what walks of life had found themselves filling out the small waiting room. The foggy and cool morning having left most of us rugging up to fight the elements. While on occasion one could see a nice new jacket or coat it was hard to tell much about the person beneath it.

Regardless, we were still all here for one thing.

To get first dibs on the Discounted Deals.

The Swap Clinic itself updated its offerings live, for the most part. From individual traits to entire bodies, the Swap Clinic's own website would soon feature nearly anything that was put up for sale or trade. Preference was always given to more high value items, one's that had a great intrinsic value or simply low overheads.

However, there were always those items that didn't hold as much intensive for the Swap Clinic or that would easily be lost in the wave of quality product. These, along with items requiring high administrative overhead, languished in the background until final the marketing team found the traits true calling

Discounted Deals became a monthly event. On the first day of any given month the flood gates would open as thousands of 'less appreciated, but well loved' traits would flood the market. Before long these drops became a moment of furious competition, a bodily Black Friday sale that swept customers up into a fervor.

When the prices were low and the competition for traits fierce it was easy to look past the imperfections. A little saggy? Some stretch marks? The eyes not quite the right color? None of it matter when it was close enough and the person next to you could be snapping up that bargain as you question yourself.

Before long the more extensive Life Swaps were added to the mix, the blander or more 'difficult' lives being added to the mix to hopefully get caught up in the FOMO of each event. With the amount of paperwork and procedure needed on these strict swaps, exchanging most of a mind between two bodies and in effect exchanging their lives, only the cream of the crop were ever listed immediately.

The fact that anything less than the best of the best rarely moved under most circumstances, with people having time to really think about and consider their actions before buying. With any life swap locking the participants in their respective forms for upwards of a decade it was easy to talk oneself out of a swap, less so if it was in essence an impulse purchase.

 

The same applied to the often seen but rarely used 'Placement Program'. This relatively controversial program had been a part of the Swap Clinic for year, though it had languished on the sidelines after being introduced by a combination of well meaning and 'less than accepting' politicians.

The program itself was to act as a pathway for immigrants outside of the standard system to seek citizenship, with the help of a 'volunteer'. When someone was caught and set for deportation they would be given a second option, to undergo a 'life swap' with a fully fledged citizen so that they can stay in the country that they so desired.

In exchange the volunteer would often be granted a special visa in their new body, allowing them and any dependents or partner to stay for an extended period in order to regain their citizenship in their new body as well as access to some helpful services and payments. This wasn't perfect of course, the partial nature of the swaps and the sometimes drastic change in living conditions often times would lead to yet another deportation with the volunteer being shipped back to a country they knew little about.

On top of all this the random nature of the program left few eager to try, only knowing that they would be stuck for not only the upwards of a decade required for life swaps but potentially being trapped forever in some foreign land.

However, much like with everything else, the pressure of the deal often made people throw caution to the wind.

 

Due to the sheer size these event and the interest the generated an additional rule had to be put in place. Once a purchase was made it would need to be actioned nearly immediately. Before long people were practically camping out at the Swap Clinics around the country, eager to grab a great deal and to take ownership of it before their hold on it expired.

I have been coming into the clinic the past few months since my redundancy. At first it was just to check things out, to maybe find something interesting I might like to try out at a steal of a price. However, before long the sense of competition had taken over.

With every error message and each item vanishing from my cart I soon found myself straying further and further from my intended goal. Larger swaps, bigger ticker items, even less desirable ones were picked only to have them pulled away before I could claim my prize.

"Come on..." I wheeze, hunching over in my seat as I refresh the page once again. I just needed a win, I'd take anything at this point to feel that rush of success I'd seen in the faces of those lucky few at the previous sales.

Suddenly, as my screen reloads the page I spot it. Rows upon rows of boxes each with a small description of the item on offer. Somewhere deeper in the system had the full descriptions, maybe even a blurb written by the person looking to swap, but not a soul in the room would ever take the time to read them.

Before long I notice items vanishing, my blood growing cold as my heart races at the thought of missing out and failing once more. I panic, tapping a box and quickly purchasing it.

My screen lags for a moment, the website seeming to struggle for just a second before I'm met with a delighted chime and a pop-up

Congratulations

You have agreed to a Life Swap with...